April Miracle Service, 2026 by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Foundation: How to Receive from God

Every single thing ordained in a miracle service will be received based on the platform of faith. Mark 16:17-18 says these signs shall follow them that believe — meaning by the end of such a service, believers are not merely recipients of God's power but expressions and conduits of it.

There are three things every believer must come into consciousness of when trusting God for his mighty hand to move:

1. Believe in the power of the gospel — the revelation of the finished work of Christ. If any miracle will happen, it will be based upon the finished work of Christ. Romans 1:16: I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God.
2. Believe in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ — John 14:13-14: Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name. That name is an open check. Your healing will be in his name. Your deliverance will be in his name.
3. Believe in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit — Romans 15:19: Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, the gospel is fully preached.

God Is a Good God

The first foundation for receiving is the consciousness of the goodness of God. The goodness of God is one of the most visible expressions of his glory. When Moses asked God to show him his glory, God answered: I will let my goodness pass over you.

Goodness is the resultant effect of three qualities. It is impossible to call a person good without all three:

• Thoughtfulness — Jeremiah 29:11: I know the thoughts that I think towards you. They are thoughts of peace and not of evil.
• Compassion — His compassion fails not. It is everlasting. When Jesus walked the earth, the Bible tells us many times that he looked at the people and was moved with compassion, seeing them as sheep without a shepherd.
• Kindness — He sends rain on the just and the unjust. That is benevolence. As a Father, he likes to reach out.

Therefore we can conclude: God is thoughtful, God is compassionate, God is kind — God is a good God.

It matters to settle this because part of the attribute of goodness is the ease to give, the ease to release, the desire to see that the other reaches. This is the critical foundation for receiving.

God is also a giver — of good things.

Luke 12:32

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It is not a burden to God when you ask. It is not a burden to God when you desire. He is not saying, Oh, you have come again. It is his good pleasure.

Matthew 7:7-11

Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. For everyone that asketh receiveth. If men who are evil by nature still know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall the Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

God gave his Son. He did not spare Jesus. How much more, with him, shall he not freely give us all things?

God is not the one rejoicing over your pain. He is not withholding his promises because he is reluctant. Settle this as an anchor: God is a good God.

To the degree to which you have investigated the goodness of a man, that is what sponsors your confidence in asking for help. God is a good God. He will give healing freely. He will make it. He gave it already. He insists to see that it gets to the believer.

God Desires to Make Available All Things for Your Victory and Witness

It is God's desire to make available to the believer all things needed for victory, and all things needed for effective witness.

When I sent you, lackest thou anything? God does not send a man without backing a man.

God is not selfish. He is not only concerned about using people for his program. He is concerned about believers walking in victory while they serve him. If all God were concerned about was using people as instruments, he would be no different from the enemy. The difference between God and the devil is that God looks beyond just his program — it is your victory and then his program. And his program is still for man.

The Bible says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." There is his mission — but there are also benefits. Don't just remember the mission. Remember the benefits.

Jesus did not turn away the magi who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. He received it. When Samuel anointed Saul and sent him back with a mission mentality, he told him — there will be men on the road who will offer you bread. Receive it. Provision is not a distraction to mission. When it stops the journey, it becomes a distraction. But provision is part of the package.

God wants believers to taste what it means to walk in the God-class whilst serving him. Stones can serve God but they don't have eternal life. He gave believers his life because he wants them to walk in victory. Everything needed for being victorious and then being efficient as a witness — that is God's business.

God Is a God of Patterns

Leviticus 9:6

This is what the Lord commanded that ye should do — and then the glory shall appear unto you.

Every dimension of God's glory is connected to a pattern. A pattern is a mystery or spiritual pathway that produces that glory as its resultant effect.

• Healing as a manifestation of God's glory has a pattern connected to it
• Prosperity as a manifestation of God's glory has a pattern connected to it
• Influence, longevity, favor — each connected to a pattern

Desiring the outcome without knowing the pattern will only leave a person disappointed. This is the difference between any two believers. It is not the love of God that differs — the same Lord is rich unto all. One understood the pattern and engaged it; the other did not.

Cain and Abel both came to offer sacrifices. One offered according to pattern. The other invented his own way. God had respect for Abel and for his offering — not because God was playing favorites, but because the pattern was honored. God said to Cain: If you do things right, will it not be accepted?

God's lifting of one person does not distract him from another. He is El Shadai. His attention can be on every person simultaneously. That God is blessing someone else is not why he has forgotten you. If you are not blessed, take responsibility. There is a pattern you do not yet understand.

The human body is a composite of systems. Destiny is the same — a composite of systems. A respiratory system can fail while others work. One system failing spiritually can limit a mighty warrior. That is how it is in the spirit: if one system goes wrong, great limitation can follow.

Dominion in the kingdom is the resultant effect of mastering patterns. It is likened to a PhD — pieced together through the sacrifice of months and years. There are keys to receiving and manifesting the promises of God. If you understand these keys, you will receive.

Four Hindrances to Receiving from God

Knowing that God is good, that he desires to give all things for victory, and that he is a God of patterns — why then do many believers not walk in the fullness of his promises? There are four hindrances.

1. Unbelief

   Mark 6:1-6

   Jesus went to his own country. When the Sabbath came he began to teach and the people were astonished — yet they were offended at him. And he could there do no mighty work. And he marveled because of their unbelief.

   This is God in the flesh walking among the people, performing miracles. Yet unbelief stopped the flow. Unbelief is an expression of dishonor. Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Can God use this man? Can God use this woman?

   person

   Apostle Joshua Selman

   Enjoying this sermon? Browse more messages by Apostle Joshua Selman on Miracle Service at ReadSermons.

   library_books More Sermons

   Believing in God is one part of the equation. The other part is believing in the vessel God uses to channel his power. Unbelief — distrust in God, distrust in his vessel — will be the blockade that stops receiving even after hours of investment and travel across nations.

   Bible faith is predicated on three things:

   • A revelation of who God is
   • The integrity of his word
   • The understanding that God uses ordinary men — and when his grace rests upon those men, they cease to be ordinary. Men under the unction of the spirit are not normal men. God can use them to shift climates and redefine the possibilities of a man's life.

   Prophecy can work wonders. It can take a person from anywhere to anywhere. The servant on whom the king leaned mocked the prophetic word that said by tomorrow the price of food would shift. He was told: you will see it as a witness that God is able, but you will not eat of it. Principles only work when they are not being manipulated by spiritual forces. 1 + 1 should be two — but 1 + 1 plus a spirit of delay is not two. That is why Paul said: I, even I Paul, but Satan hindered us.

   In the beginning, God. Not skill. Not connections alone. Not intellect alone. If God does not help a man, the destiny can be wasted for nothing. Do not change that formula.

2. Offense

   Proverbs 19:11

   Matthew 11:1-6

   Matthew 24:10

   A person's wisdom yields patience, and it is to one's glory to overlook an offense.

   John the Baptist — the man who ordained Jesus in ministry, who said Behold the Lamb of God — was in prison, offended, and sent word: Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Offense can make folly out of wise men. They will speak like fools.

   Jesus's answer was not to explain himself but to demonstrate his power, and then to say: Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.

   Every time Satan wants to attack, his first assignment is to look for those who can pray, speak up, or bail a person in trouble — then to create offense between them. He will never attack when helpers are still in good standing. His first mission is to orchestrate reasons for offense so that when the attack comes, the person who could pray has already turned their face away.

   Notice how, just before major seasons shift in the Bible, offense rises among those closest to the person. Disciples who were loyal began to drift. One was lobbying for position. Anger arose. Judas was preparing betrayal. All of those offenses died after the resurrection because they were not really about personalities — they were about the season. Every time a new season is about to open, watch for offense.

   The sons of the prophets never received from Elijah — not because of lack of diligence but because of offense. Elijah was a tempestuous man. Elisha was insulted repeatedly. But he refused to be offended. When Elijah at last turned and asked what he wanted, Elisha said politely: A double portion of your anointing. Elijah said: If you can see me as I go, you have asked a hard thing. Elisha said in his heart: not what you are doing, not your limitations, not the insults — I will see the hand of God upon your life. And when the chariots of fire came, the grace rested on a man who had refused to be offended.

   You will never enter a dimension you trivialize. Settle offense from the depth of your heart. Do not let petty things close major doors. Do not send a message to the realm of the spirit that says: every time I approach this dimension, stop me.

3. Ingratitude

   Luke 17:11-19

   Ten lepers cried out to Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They believed. They were cleansed as they went. Their problem was not a faith issue. But nine of them kept going.

   One turned back, came to Jesus with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell at his feet giving thanks. He was a Samaritan — having nothing to do with Jews by culture.

   Jesus's response: Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Then to the one who returned: Arise. Go your way. Your faith has made you whole.

   For the nine he said go. For this man he said arise. There is a difference between go and arise. Arise means you go above your contemporaries. Where they are walking, you are flying.

   You may also like

   

   Ask For Nations (part 3)

   by Pastor Philip Olubakin

   arrow_forward

   The ratio of grateful to ungrateful people in scripture — one out of every ten. Gratitude comes from being thoughtful. Most people are not grateful because they are not thoughtful.

   When people are grateful to you, you become indebted to them. God is the same. There are many things a person will not need to ask for if they are truly grateful. There are many battles of binding and casting that will not need to be fought if gratitude is in place. The Bible says: Let the people praise him and the earth shall yield her increase.

   Gratitude must match the extent of benevolence communicated. Someone who paid school fees from secondary through university deserves more than a passing text. Someone who stood with you in your worst season deserves to be remembered and honored — not only during anniversaries when it is obvious, but on a random day for no reason.

   Find at least five to ten people who have made the most significant spiritual, financial, or growth impact in your life and send a generous, non-pretentious communication of gratitude. Do not say it does not matter. Find a day with no reason, and send it.

   Gratitude is investment. Father, thank you. All I have is this much — but I thank you that I have it anyway. When Jesus took five loaves and two fish, he gave thanks. That is how five loaves and two fish feed five thousand. Thanksgiving is investment.

4. Pride

   Proverbs 16:18

   James 4:6

   Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Destruction waits for a door that pride opens. If pride does not open the door, destruction cannot enter.

   God resists the proud. When God is fighting a person, the anointing cannot help because the anointing does not fight God — it only fights what is anti-Christ. When God is fighting you, only two prayers can help: the prayer of mercy and the prayer of repentance.

   Proud preacher. Proud businessman. Proud politician. Proud spouse. Proud parent. Proud children. Once there is pride, God is against that person. And if God is against, neither men nor the devil will help.

   One of the greatest antidotes to pride is thoughtfulness and gratitude. When a person is thoughtful and grateful, pride cannot take advantage because they will always remember where God brought them from. Pride is often the result of forgetfulness.

   Deuteronomy 8:17-18

   Thou shalt remember the Lord your God. Do not say, my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this great wealth.

Prayers for Receiving

Impartation

Altar Call